Click here for photographs taken by Nick Champion
28 crews from England, Ireland and Australia massed on the sandy beaches of Thorpe Bay for the 23rd Hurricane Nationals.
The hottest week of the summer so far, the perfect location and the 2nd year of the new powerful square top mainsail attracted an entry 40% up on the last year with crews from other multihull fleets vying for the title
Grant Piggott, sail maker, former Hurricane National and European Champion, Nacra F18 dealer and ex-Tornado squad member borrowed a boat as did local Thorpe Bay sailor Kyle Stoneham, the current Tornado, UK F18 inland and Dart 15 National Champion. John Ready Hurricane 2006 National Champion joined forces with Australian Tornado, F18 and Windrush connoisseur Ryan Duffield. The most decorated pair in Hurricane folk lore; Andy Webb and Paul Gray from Harwich Town sailing club returned to the racing fleet, after a five year hiatus, in 2 sail mode to show the 3 sail boats what for !
Thursday Training Day
Class officers Andy Webb and John Ready ran a tuning session for the fleet the day before the Nationals got under way to share everything that they know about getting the most out of the boat. The class web mistress Maxine Oliver, produced a laminated 25 page tuning guide for every competitor to ensure everyone was stacked with knowledge! As we discovered during the racing the level of the fleet has progressed well since the introduction of the new mainsail and 16:1 downhaul, with crews finding the boat easier and faster to sail.
Friday Races 1-3 of 8 Light Easterly Winds
Race 1: The fleet were away cleanly in 3-5 knots, with team Webb/Gray leading the fleet out to the Thorpe Bay shore and the port tack lay line. The skinny Harwich duo proved tough to catch in the light wind, despite their newly toned potbellies on their svelte frames! The big jib on the 2 sail mode boat proved difficult to hang onto by the smaller self tacking jibs of the 3 sail "SX" rigged boats. Luckily rusty Webby's lay line calls allowed the chasing team of Ready/Duffield to hang onto their tails upwind and make up a little on the runs. Fortunately the wind picked up by a couple of knots which allowed the SX kite to show its pace and depth as Ready/Duffield took Race 1 passing Webb/Gray on what turned out to be the last downwind leg as the race officer shortened the race on the 2nd lap. The Stone F18/Tornado pairing of Bawden and Tindale with a borrowed boat had their best result of the regatta finishing 3rd with Piggott and Sinclair from Weston in 4th.
Race 2: The wind stayed at 6-8 knots as the fleet got away from the line with several boats OCS, amongst them Ready/Duffield and Piggott/Sinclair who went back to restart. These points were to prove important later on in the regatta. Meanwhile the local father son crew Palmer/Palmer had their best result of the regatta winning race 2 declaring themselves contenders to the title, followed by fellow local hotshots Stoneham/Borwn with Rutland TT winners Hanmore/Pyman of Stone to fill the first 3 spots. The experienced light wind specialists from Stone SC Geoff Tindale and Clint Foreman took 4th.
Click here to read more..........
|
.jpg)
